


The Smell of Love

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [20]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: All Human AU, Alternate Universe, Baking, Canon Statutory Rape, M/M, One-Shot, Sterek Bingo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24285682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Stiles has a new bane of his existence. Why does he have to be so hot?
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726042
Comments: 14
Kudos: 218





	The Smell of Love

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : This is a completed One-shot. There will be no more written in the universe.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Stiles groaned as he rolled over in bed. The smell was killing him. Or at least killing his sleep. He just wanted to sleep in one day a week. Sunday morning so but no, the guy down in the bakery had to start to make bread at the ass end of the night so that the smell of it filled Stiles' apartment. He had bought the loft apartment on a steal because the main floor was an old bakery that had been shut down after the people who owned it left and didn't find a buyer.

A month and a half ago, someone bought it as well as the loft between it and Stiles'. The building was just three floors. Any other time and Stiles would be all for his place smelling like heaven. He loved the smell of fresh bread, and he hadn't smelled it since his mom had gotten sick.

Grumbling, Stiles got up and got ready for the day. He usually lived in his pajamas on Sunday, but today he was going to go down and get fresh bread. He had picked up some apple butter from the store the other day. It wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing.

Stiles filled a travel mug with coffee and set himself out to get something good. The bakery had no set house. It was always open by eight in the morning, and it closed whenever the last item was sold for the day or the guy who owned it was done. Stiles had yet to meet the man. He had seen him in passing and already figured out that it was a bad thing for him to be so fucking good looking and able to make things that smelled like he did.

The bakery front was empty, but there were a few tables that were set up to be sat at while eating. Lunchtime had a few people in there getting sandwiches. Stiles liked that as he could slip down and picked up what he wanted. All came on some kind of loaf, and the meats and cheeses were from the deli down the street.

"Stiles stopped when he saw that there were small jars of apple butter on the counter. He picked up one and looked at it. It was freshly made, Stiles could tell that, and the printed ingredients told him that homemade as well. He was going to throw out what he had bought the other day. He found a larger jar at the back and settled it onto the counter by the register as he looked at the items that were on sale for the day. Most of the holes were still empty, but that was fine. The bread was sitting on the top of the display case and looked like it was still cooling some.

The bell to ring was sitting on the counter, but Stiles wanted to have his order ready to go before he pulled the guy up front. He didn't like to waste his time, and that was something that everyone in town knew. He read the signs that described each item as well as allergens that were common in them.

Stiles was reading those when he heard someone clear their throat. Stiles turned around to look behind him, but he was the only one there, so he looked back to see the owner guy standing in the doorway from the back.

"Can I help you?"

"Um, I'm not quite ready yet, so no?" Stiles said. He hated that it sounded like a question.

"You are new."

"Not really. I just usually am asleep at his hour. I usually come in for lunch, but the smell of the bread was too strong, and I need like three slabs of it to shove into my face. So...I guess we can start there. I want two loaves of regular bread, one cut normal and the other thick. And one of the rosemary bread regularly cut as well."

The guy grabbed a pair of gloves before walking into the back and grabbing the loaves that Stiles wanted. Stiles looked at the rest of the stuff and wondered when they were going to be done.

By the time that the three were ready, Stiles knew what else he wanted. The guy bagged up each bread and then eyed the second jar of apple butter that Stiles put on the counter.

"Both?"

"One loaf is going to Dad's work, and they will devour it and what whole jar. The bigger jar is mine. I assume only the bread is read?"

"Yes, but I can take the order for everything else you want and call when I have it all done. My help gets here in two hours, and they will be the ones placing the calls."

"Sure." Stiles rattled off the list of what he wanted as the guy's eyes steadily got bigger as Stiles kept on going.

"How big of a family do you have?"

"It's just me, but most of that is going to Dad's work. Gotta keep his deputies happy, so they keep on spying on him and telling me how many times he's eaten burgers for his meal at work, so I know what to do when he comes to mine for dinner."

"Deputies? Your the Sheriff's son?" the guy asked.

"Yup. Stiles Stilinski at your service." Stiles held out his hand for the guy to shake it. He did after taking off the gloves.

"Derek Hale."

"Oh, Peter's nephew!"

The look on Derek's face was priceless. He looked like he was a little proud but also pissed off. "How do you know my uncle?"

"Oh, so you don't know the biggest bit of gossip in town, do you?"

"I hate gossip."

"Oh, well, I guess then I won't tell you."

Derek glared at him.

"Oh, I want a bacon egg and cheese sandwich, that looks good." Stiles just noticed the sign on the counter with the day's breakfast items. It came with another slice of bread with a choice of topping. "With apple butter on the bread. Fuck, that sounds fucking awesome."

"Give me a few minutes. Find a table, and I'll bring it out. Coffee?"

Stiles held up his tumbler. "I am very picky about coffee, so most places I just bring my own or get tea."

"We have tea from the shop downtown."

"Oh, do you have their Early Morning blend?" Stiles asked.

Derek nodded.

"I'll take a cup of that."

"Sure." Derek rang up that and the rest of Stiles' stuff and waved for Stiles to swipe his card.

Stiles found a table after he finished the payment process on his end. He took a sip of his coffee before he started to look at the artwork on the walls. It was all from Cora, Stiles knew her art well from the little gallery that she had in town. That she had some up on the walls in the bakery wasn't a big shock.

The rumors about Derek were the only thing that Stiles knew. He had left town after a big issue at the high school when he was seventeen. Stiles' father had asked him to stay out of it for deeply personal reasons, so Stiles had. He knew that a teacher had been found in bed with a student around that time and that Derek had left not long after. So it wasn't hard to put two and two together. Whatever else was going during that, Stiles had kept his nose out of it. He wasn't needed to help with the crime, and there wasn't a bigger thing going on it, so he didn't need to know about it.

Peter Hale had left town with his nephew. He had only come back about two years before and settled into the Hale & Hale law firm again. Derek coming back seemed to have been a bit of quiet gossip, probably those in town knowing what happened and keeping it quiet for his own sake.

Stiles smelled the grilling bread and the bacon, and his stomach rumbled. He was going to pay for eating so early by being hungry all day, but it was worth it. If this place made good breakfast sandwiches, he was going to get fat.

Playing on his phone, Stiles passed the time easily while his breakfast was being made. He was lost in an article on a news site when the smell of food got stronger. He looked to see that his food was not only sitting there, but there was also another plate. There was also a little ramekin of what looked like fresh butter.

"You are fucking awesome," Stiles said as he picked up the butter to spread on his bread. The bread was hot, and the butter melted so nicely, and he picked up a second knife to spread the apple butter. It was in a shared pot, so he didn't want to use the butter knife with it.

Stiles bit into the bread, and he couldn't help the moan that he made.

"Dude, you are going to regret this for the rest of your life," Stiles said when he had chewed and swallowed his bite. He stopped himself after eating half of it and swapped to the sandwich before it was cold. He looked up at Derek to see that Derek was staring at him.

Stiles would have blushed, but he was used to eating like this, and he didn't feel shame for it at all. "Dude, my father told me that I should have become a cook, but I don't like to really cook. I do it well, but I just...don't like it."

"Then what do you do?" Derek asked. He had left his bread alone, and half of his sandwich was gone.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at Derek, trying to figure out if the man was trying to not show that he knew what Stiles did for a living or he just didn't know at all. It wasn't a secret at all, but then most of the town really didn't care what he did. He hadn't gone into anything they cared about, so they ignored him.

"Do you following reviewing blogs at all?"

"No."

"Gotcha. Well, my day job is writing. I write books for a living. I make a pretty penny on them, but one weekend a month, I hit up cities in the state, and I hit as many food places as I can and review them. I get paid a flat fee to do it, and the businesses are the ones that pay me, or they have a competitor that does it. No matter what, they get an honest review, and most of the time, the money just covers the food that I order."

"You do that for fun?"

"I love food. I also hit up places that just sound interesting, and of course, any place in Beacon Hills is open game." Stiles waggled his eyebrows as he took the last bite of his sandwich. He picked up the tea and took a sip to find that it was cool enough to drink quickly.

"And am I now open game?" Derek asked.

"Dude, so much. Though, you might not find it to be a glowing review."

"Why not?"

"I should be in bed for another four hours."

"And?"

"The smell of your fucking bread woke me up!" Stiles nearly knocked over his tea. He grabbed it up, so it didn't tip. "I mean it. I give honest reviews, and the fact that your fucking baking wakes me up every single fucking morning before the sun is up is going into it."

Derek looked like he was trying not to laugh, something Stiles had heard that he couldn't do.

"How does it wake you up?"

"Dude, I'm in the loft above you."

"I was beginning to wonder if anyone even lived up there. I mean, I know the guy I bought this off of said that someone lived up there, but I've never seen anyone coming or going."

"I'm a hermit. I mean, I go out on Friday nights and Saturday nights, but I figure you are in bed before I even leave with your ridiculous hours. I spend most of my life with headphones on and sitting in front of a computer. I even have the headphones Bluetoothed to my TV so that I can listen to it without it making a lot of noise. I got used to that in college and living at home with dad for a little while after college, so I can't just do ambient sounds around the apartment. I get distracted."

"You don't go anywhere and write?"

"The tea shop before they stopped having inside seating. The coffee shop is too busy for me. I end up watching people more than anything. I have ADHD, and I can get distracted very easily. People in and out don't bother me. The lines that is. It's the people at tables who are sitting and working as well. They distract me. The little idiosyncrasies that get my attention. OCD tendencies, especially." Stiles looked at where Derek put his cup of tea down in the exact same spot with the handle turned a specific way.

"I do have OCD, and that can make me a perfectionist, but that's why I don't make cakes here. I get enough business with the cupcakes that I do, and I don't need the headache of people who think they want one thing but really want something else and don't want to pay me for my time."

"Not in a rush to get back there right now?"

"Nope. I have the next round of items in the oven, and the others are rising or resting before they are baked. I normally eat breakfast around this time, so I decided to join you. If you want to tell me what goes where I can have Isaac take the items to the Sheriff's station if you want."

"No, I want the damn brownie points for that. I also want to make sure that my father gets his treat because last time Scott took them, and he gave Dad the wrong thing."

"What does he like?"

"The peach tarts. He just loves any of the tarts you make. I tried to make them once and failed. Mom used to make them, and he loved them."

Derek nodded and finished off the last of his breakfast before draining his tea. Stiles was long done with his food, having gotten good at eating and talking. He was quite happy with it all. He was going to have to work out a little more to be able to eat like that.

"Breakfast was really great. I foresee me coming down here a lot for it."

"Bring your computer. I have guest WiFi because I have assholes who demanded it because they need it for the ten minutes it takes to get their orders together. I can keep you in tea."

"You might regret that."

"I doubt that I will."

Stiles wasn't sure what the look on Derek's face was, but he sure wanted to find out.

* * *

Stiles was bopping his head along to the music playing in his headphones, and he heard the gunshot. He looked up and around to see what was going on to see an older man standing there. Stiles was pretty sure that the man hadn't seen him, so he brought up Skype to see who was online. He found that Parrish was. He typed out that shots were fired and that he wasn't sure who was injured, and so far, the gunman had not seen him.

Parrish's light blinked to off, and Stiles really hoped that they rushed. There was nothing in Stiles' corner of the bakery that would give him any protection, so he stayed where he was and stayed silent. When the man started toward the back of the bakery, Stiles plucked his headphones off.

"You ruined her! You are the reason she is dead!"

Stiles rushed, looking over at where the man was pointing the gun and saw that Derek was standing there with his hand over where it looked like a bullet had grazed his arm.

"Gerard Argent, drop the gun and turn around," Stiles' dad said a few seconds later.

Gerard spun around, and Stiles moved. He vaulted over the counter that was between them and shoved Derek into the back. Erica, Boyd, and Isaac were all in the back with wide eyes.

"You okay?" Stiles asked.

"He cut the phone lines, and all of our cellphones are out front," Erica said like she was in shock, which she probably was.

Parrish came into the back, looking around at everyone. Stiles continued pushing Derek until they were in the office, he shoved him down into a chair and ripped the arm off his shirt. Stiles gagged and took off his flannel overshirt to press it into the wound. Stiles wasn't sure what was wrong with Derek, but he looked like he was about to throw up.

"Hey, Derek," Stiles said.

Derek flinched a little, but he seemed to come back to himself. He tugged on Stiles until Stiles sat in his lap. That was something new, and it was even stranger when Derek buried his face into Stiles's chest.

Stiles jerked a little when his father appeared in the room.

"What happened?"

"I have no clue. I heard the gunshot and looked up to see that guy holding a gun on Derek. I didn't want to draw attention to myself as he hadn't noticed me yet. I opened up Skype as I was afraid that going for my phone would have the guy see me. I messaged Parrish."

"We had a call of two shots fired, but no one knew where it was. Parrish was still working on finding what businesses were open at this point in the day and the most likely. It's barely six, Stiles. What the hell are you doing here?"

"My baking wakes him up, so he comes down for breakfast and works on writing," Derek said.

"So, you didn't see him come in."

"No, I was lost in my writing. Who was he?"

"Derek, can you tell me what happened?" Noah asked.

"I was in the back icing some cupcakes for a birthday party later today. I heard the bell ring that someone had come in, but Erica and Isaac were up there. Boyd had just come into the back to give me an order. They were on a break, but they sat up there to talk to Boyd while he handles the phones. I heard the gunshot and rushed up front. They ran into the back. Argent fired again. It clipped me. He stood there ranting about me killing his daughter."

"Kate Argent was found dead in her cell three days ago. I was sent the notification to give you just an hour ago. I hadn't come over yet as I was going to get lunch with Stiles after doing it. She was shanked by another inmate who took offense when it was found out that she wasn't just in there for attempted murder. Her crimes as a rapist were kept quiet. Don't know if someone else who knew got put in there."

"The Argent was still ranting, and then that's when you guys came in. Stiles all but tackled me into the back."

"That matches what Parrish saw when he came in. He surrendered, and I want you to go to the hospital and get that wound checked out."

"I need to grab Isobel," Derek said.

"Cora went up and is with her. We didn't want her as part of the takedown, and I knew she wasn't going to stay behind. She texted Peter."

Stiles wasn't sure who Isobel was.

"Daddy?" a voice called out.

Noah stepped away, and there was Cora Hale with a girl at her side that looked like she was about twelve years old. She rushed to Derek and only stopped when she saw Stiles sitting in his lap. Stiles moved to get up, but she crawled into his lap instead. The chair creaked a little.

The numbers in Stiles' head matched up, and he kind of wanted to throw up. He understood fully why Derek had left Beacon Hills and why Peter had been the one to take him away. The town would never have left him alone. They would have wanted to be helpful, and it wouldn't have been good.

"I'll take her to Peter's," Cora said.

"No, I don't...I want her with me. I don't want her away from me."

"Melissa will make sure she's allowed to stay with you," Stiles said.

"Who is that?" Isobel asked.

"She's my best friend's mom. She's a really cool ER nurse. I know she works today because Scott was complaining that he had to take her breakfast today since she was working back to back."

Stiles helped get Isobel a bag ready of things to keep her busy while she was with them at the hospital. Derek held onto the shirt that was being used as a way to stop the bleeding with one hand, but the other was lying on Isobel's shoulder as they were directed out the back to a waiting SUV.

Cora was the one driving, which didn't shock Stiles at all. The Hales were very up each other's butt, according to Cora, but she kind of did the same kind of things. Stiles figured that after what had happened with the Argents years ago, there wasn't a lot that the family trusted when it came to each other.

They were taken straight back, and no one tried to stop Stiles or Isobel from heading back with Derek.

"What's wrong?" Isobel asked.

"I don't like blood," Stiles said. He closed his eyes tight as Melissa came close with a needle.

"And he hates needles. Isobel, why don't you hold on tight to Stiles' hands while I take care of your father?" Melissa asked.

Isobel reached out and took hold of Stiles' hand. Stiles swore that he could hear the way that the needle went into Derek's skin, and he didn't like it. He started to hum under his breath a little bit. Isobel leaned into him, and Stiles wrapped his free arm around her. They were taking up the second bed that was in the room that Derek had been taken into, facing where Derek had sat himself down on the bed. A sound happened, and Stiles wasn't sure what it was, so he looked, just in time to see Melissa washing out the wound a little bit after the anesthetic took effect. Stiles felt his stomach roll.

"Look at me," Derek whispered.

Stiles looked into Derek's eyes. He swallowed to try and settle his stomach.

"You were good under pressure," Derek said.

"Yeah. I learned that the hard way after a guy took offense that my father hadn't hired him to be on the force after failing his psych review. He was like...off his rocker, hence him trying to take me captive and then kill me in front of him. I escaped."

"And in the process of escaping, he climbed a scaffold and ended up knocking off poles." Melissa sounded just as proud as she had when he had been taken into the ER that night to be looked over. The therapy after that had been just as bad as what he had been put into after his mother had died.

"Yeah, Dad found me passed out up on top of the scaffolding when they traced my cell phone after finding the guys note on where to find me only I wasn't there."

"Why were you passed out?" Isobel asked.

Stiles didn't look away from Derek to her as that would mean looking at the blood on Derek's arm. Stiles raised an eyebrow, and Derek's face moved, and it was weird, but Stiles knew precisely what those eyebrows and the tick at his mouth meant.

"Well, the poles fell, they knocked the guy off the scaffolding where he was trying to get me. He fell onto another pole that was sticking up. He bled a lot. There was video evidence, but I was cleared of it, but I looked down when the guy hadn't made it to me yet. It was...freaking disgusting. I passed out up there during a panic attack, which I have. Dad wasn't sure where I was, and they were screaming, but one of the deputies saw the tips of my fingers up on top of it. I was in the high school library, and I never went in there again after that. It was horrible. Dad told me he was proud of me doing whatever I could to escape. I mean, the only reason was I didn't want him alone. We had already lost mom. I couldn't leave him alone."

"I get that," Derek said. He was looking at Isobel and smiling. He wasn't even reacting to the movements of Melissa and Stiles closed his eyes for a few seconds as he took a few deep breaths and then let out the last one slowly.

"So yeah. I haven't really handled blood well at all since them before it even, but that made it all very much worse. Dad put me into training after that. It was the first time that someone had come after me. No one had ever gone after mom. Dad didn't want it happening again, so the deputies worked with me until they figured out a fighting style that was best for me. Which turned out toe Eskrima. I'm really good at finding found items to use as weapons. While at college, I was jumped and used the guy's own prosthetic arm against him when it fell off when I slammed him into a wall when he tried to stab me. It was...horrific in court. The lawyer that the guy had tried to label it a hate crime since the guy was disabled, and I used his own arm against him. The judge threw that shit out because I hadn't attacked the guy because he was disabled. He attacked me first. I needed thirty-five stitches when that was all said and done, and he had bruises. It was his knife, it had his name etched into the handle."

"That lawyer of his really went out on a limb, didn't he?" Derek asked.

Derek's face was straight, and Stiles wondered for a few seconds if Derek had meant to say that the way that he did but the way that his lips turned up after a few seconds and Stiles lost it. He laughed, and all of the tension from the day left him. He wasn't sure that he wasn't crying when he finally was able to stop. Isobel was still there at his side, and when he opened his eyes to look again, Derek was standing in front of him. His arm was wrapped up, and there was no blood in sight anymore. Derek reached up with his good arm and cupped the side of Stiles' face and pulled him into a kiss.

Isobel made a retching noise beside him, but Stiles didn't care about that. He was kissing Derek. It was something that he had wanted for a while now, but Derek never made a single act that made it seem like he was interested in him. Stiles knew when to leave things alone. The kiss didn't turn to deep, but it was good. Derek was alive, he was here in front of him.

"Mister Sheriff Man," Isobel said just as someone cleared their throat.

Stiles looked to the side of Derek and saw that his father was indeed there. He was looking pleased with the way that Derek and Stiles were, but there was also his serious Sheriff face.

"Mister Hale, you are free to go. It's pretty cut and dry. The DA might get in touch if Mister Argent doesn't take a plea deal, but just between us, there is no reason for him to drag this out and drag his family's name through the mud again. He's got a few other things going on that make it so that he needs to end this fast."

"Thank you, Sir," Derek said.

"Your uncle is waiting outside, and he said that he has room for Stiles as well. Melissa is just about done with the discharge papers, and the doctor has looked at your file and doesn't think that anything else is needed. Stiles is a pretty good nurse when it comes to helping and feeding. Changing the bandages, not really."

"Yeah, he explained that to us. Isobel is pretty good at that part. She's treated a lot of my burns from baking. I think I'll be fine."

"You two had better come to dinner soon," Noah said as he glared at Stiles.

"What? Today was the first time we've kissed! I have not been hiding this from you! Unlike you!"

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"I've seen that car outside of your place when I'm driving around town to get my head on to write when I can't sleep. I've not said anything, have I? Well, until now. So he had better come to dinner soon."

"Which car?"

Stiles looked at his father and narrowed his eyes. He knew Peter Hale's car.

There was a knock on the door, and his father opened the door. Stiles knew the man as Chris Smith, and he had laughed at his name. Stiles had tried to look him up once, but his father's system had booted him out because he hadn't been able to figure out the password. That had got him in so much trouble. He and his daughter had moved to town when Stiles had been in his junior year of school. Allison had been a really sweet girl who had wanted nothing more than to make friends.

"Derek, are you and Isobel okay?" Chris asked from the doorway. He didn't seem to want to get too far into the room.

"Yeah, Chris, we are fine. Gerard only winged me," Derek said. He moved Stiles out of the way a little to where he could sit between Isobel and Stiles.

"Stiles, this is my Uncle Chris."

Stiles tried to figure out how the man was an uncle but figured that he and Derek were just good friends, and it was like when Stiles called some of the deputies his uncles and aunts. Stiles looked between Chris and Isobel, though, and there was a family resemblance. Stiles snapped his mouth shut after he opened it to ask. This was Chris Argent. Stiles had looked into the family after the whole thing with Kate years ago. The brother had been mentioned, but he had cut ties with his family years before. His wife had ended up divorcing him after what his sister had done. She had also left her daughter behind as well since she was an Argent by blood. Stiles would have changed his name as well. He wouldn't want to have that name attached to him for the rest of his life. Though he would have picked something a little better than Smith.

Holding out his hand, Stiles waited for Chris to walk over and shake it.

"Chris, this is Stiles, Daddy's boyfriend," Isobel said. Stiles could hear the smirk in her voice, and then Derek groaned beside him.

"Ah, the young man he's been pining after. Well, today was a shit show, but at least something good came out of it. Stiles, it's nice to see you again."

"You too."

"And thank you for getting Derek out of my father's line of fire," Chris said.

Stiles nodded his head as he looked at Derek. "I'd have done it for anyone, but Derek's special. He feeds me."

Everyone in the room laughed at that, and Stiles felt Derek lean his head on his shoulder.

"Okay, so the drugs I was given are going to wear off, and I need to get my scripts picked up. Melissa called them in so that I didn't have to drop them off. So I need food in my belly to take them."

"We can hit a drive-thru and get you something, you are not cooking."

"Allison is at the bakery, and she got everything cleaned up and has been working with the trio to get things out for the day. Everyone has been stopping by after finding out what happened."

"I'll go to Stiles'," Derek said.

"I'll help Allison!" Isobel said.

"You can run the register, but you are not to pick up the phone."

"Yes, Dad," Isobel said, and she wasn't sarcastic at all.

Stiles figured that no answering the phone was a good thing considering that it was probably going to bring the vultures out and who knew who would be calling. Stiles hated reporters in situations like this. He wished that they cared more about people than the stories that they chased.

"You didn't react," Chris said as Derek and Isobel slipped out of the room with Isobel telling her father what he was allowed to do and what he wasn't.

"You and Isobel have a few features in common. It wasn't hard. I mean, I tried to look you up after I met you the first time. Dad's computers shut me out. Smith is the worst name in the world."

"It actually was my mother's maiden name. It was easy to go to it. The courts all locked it all down. So that Allison could get away from it all. I hate what my sister did and what my father tried to do today. I'm just lucky that Derek and his family never tried to keep Isobel from me. He accepted my help with her in New York. That's part of why he moved there, that and it was where Peter could find work that would help protect them. We all kind of did the whole village raising of Allison and Isobel. Between the three of us, we were around all the time."

"How did Derek win custody?" Stiles asked. He looked to see that everyone else was gone but them. If Chris didn't want to answer, he didn't have to.

"Hold on." Chris waved for Stiles to head out first. "Derek, I want to talk to Stiles. So why don't you and Isobel go with Peter, and I'll follow behind, and Stiles can direct me to his place."

"Sure." Derek looked at Stiles, and Stiles nodded his head that he was okay with it. Derek smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss before they left.

They didn't say anything until Chris was sliding in the SUV that he was driving.

"It wasn't found out until after the court case was done. She tried to use it as a reason she shouldn't be kept in jail. That she had a kid to raise. Well, as soon as I heard that she was pregnant, I told Peter. I had kept in contact with him to make sure that Derek had what he needed, therapy, and the like. He was damaged in so many ways from that. She seduced him to kill the family because Talia had ousted my father from something years and years ago. She had been the one to win fair and square, but the hate never went away, and Kate just...she soaked that up. Peter took them to court for custody of Isobel. At that point, my mother was dead, and my father was insane. He saw nothing wrong with my sister. She had started to seduce him when he was sixteen, the summer before school started. He turned seventeen while they were together, but California law is pretty strict, and she was well over twenty at that point. He was deemed not fit, and I never applied for custody, so Peter won until Derek was eighteen, I offered to help, and he had a good case to be considered. I mean, I sided with them. The judge understood what that meant. That I already had a daughter at that point helped. So Kate was offered the chance to abort, but she didn't want that. I guess she thought she would release her or something if she acted like a good mother to her baby before it was born."

Stiles pointed to the street where they needed to go to get to his loft.

"You live near Derek?" Chris asked.

"Yeah. I mean...well I'm in the loft above him. He used to torment me with the smell of baking bread, never got to sleep in anymore. Now I've kind of adapted to his schedule, and I can get at least an hour of sleep extra. But yeah, I'm in the place above him. My entrance is at the back, though while his is in the front."

Chris parked in the spot beside Peter's car that Stiles knew from his father's place.

"I still can't believe that my father is with him," Stiles said.

"Why?" Chris asked.

"Dad never dates. I mean it. He tried it a few times when I was in high school, but he said that no one was good enough to slide in beside mom in his heart. Peter is great, though."

"Yeah, he is," Chris said.

Stiles looked at him and saw the love written on Chris' face. Stiles felt like shit. He had just been talking about the man that Chris loved with another man. Stiles had no clue what to say to that. Then he saw Peter and his father standing at the base of his stairs. Stiles slid out of the vehicle. He watched as his father walked up to Chris and hugged him. Stiles' mind blew a little. His father wasn't with just Peter. That was why he asked which vehicle. It wasn't him trying to see if Stiles knew who he was dating. It was trying to figure out which one to drop on him. Stiles wondered when his father was going to tell him about this.

Though, Stiles could see where the three of them could get into each other. They all had big shit in their lives that had changed them. It was something that they could bond over, and they all knew when to back off because the person just couldn't do it. Stiles knew that his father had bad days where work was just too much, and all he wanted was to sit and watch mindless TV. He could live with it as his father had good days too.

"So Isobel is getting lunch ready," Derek said.

"Yeah?" Stiles asked. He stepped up to kiss Derek on the cheek, and the other man wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly. It felt good. Stiles leaned his forehead down to rest on Derek's collarbone. He liked this. He really did.

Stiles pulled up a few minutes later to see that they were alone. He frowned.

"Uncle Peter left me alone with you so we could talk."

"About what?" Stiles wondered what Derek was worried about because he did look worried.

"Isobel."

"Ah, you mean where you are very protective of her because people are fucking stupid and don't leave you alone. I mean, I'm inquisitive, but I do know when to stop. I know how to leave things alone. I mean, yes, she was a shock but Derek, we were friendly, but there was nothing more than that there. It's not like we had gone on a few dates, and then you told me that you have a surprise kid."

"I mean we kind of did," Derek said. He was looking happier.

"Dude, you feeding me breakfast and us chatting a little isn't exactly a full date. You didn't ask me out, and we went anywhere. I mean, I was invading your place when you were used to it being quiet. I mean, you didn't say anything last week when I broke into song while writing for an hour. I'm sure that your ears hated that. We are good. I know about her now, and she's kind of adorable. She's a good and strong kid. Does she know?"

"About her mother? Yes. She asked when she was eight. Peter, Chris, Allison, and I sat down with her and told her everything. She was angry for a little while but not at us. That she has that kind of DNA in her. We spent weeks on nature versus nurture and how some people are born wrong, but others grow to be wrong and that her DNA didn't define her. Chris was a big help during that since you know he and Kate were raised in the same household. It's a lot of stupid though with everything. I protect her because here in Beacon Hills, we are more in the public eye, but she wanted to come home to where the family is. She understood why we had moved and then kept her there. She's old enough that it won't hurt her when someone does something stupid. Which I am happy with, I mean it's back in the public eye again."

"At least you live and work in the same place. I mean really, it's summer, so that means that she doesn't have to go to school yet and that also means that we can all do the shopping. You and she don't need to leave the building for anything at the moment. Let everything calm down a little and the news to become a week old. I know better than anyone how it all goes. The town was nice after mom died, but it was hard when everyone kept on stopping me when I was walking around and stuff. We can do it. All of us. And if people get too bad, we can sic Cora on them."

Derek laughed and nodded his head. He didn't look too happy, but then everything was horrible at the moment. Stiles could be patient. Derek was worth it.

"So, let's go inside, and we can get settled in while Isobel figures out food. I'm figuring it is sandwiches from the bakery?"

Derek nodded his head.

"Good. Those are my favorite things to shove in my mouth."

Derek snorted and tugged Stiles along with him up into the stairs that would take them upstairs. For now, Stiles was totally okay with Derek's oasis being his place. Just like Stiles' had become the bakery.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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